As a glove box provided in an instrument panel of a vehicle, a rotary type and a pull-out type are known.
A general glove box includes an outer case and an inner case. The outer case can accommodate the inner case, and the inner case has formed therein a storage space capable of accommodating various types of belongings therein. The storage space of the inner case is open upward and the outer case is provided with an opening which serves as an entry hole to the inner case (hereinafter, simply referred to as entry hole). The inner case rotates or slides relative to the outer case from the front side, i.e., from the inside of the outer case, through the entry hole of the outer case, to the rear side, i.e., to the outside of the outer case (further in other words, to the inward side of the vehicle's cabin), to be pulled out. Therefore, the position of the inner case is changed between a closed position at which the entry hole of the outer case is closed and an open position at which the entry hole is open and at least a part of the storage space is exposed to the rear side (in the vehicle's cabin) (for example, see Patent Literature 1). It should be noted that the front side herein refers to the leading side of the vehicle's traveling direction, and the rear side refers to the rear side of the vehicle's traveling direction.
Meanwhile, in recent years, there are many cases where a lower part of the instrument panel of a vehicle is made inclined from the front and lower side toward the rear and upper side. The rear face of the inner case is often designed so as to be flush with the instrument panel. When the inclination angle of the instrument panel is large, the rear face of the inner case is also inclined to a great extent. In this case, in order to cause the storage space of the inner case to be sufficiently exposed in the vehicle's cabin so that a passenger can easily put articles into and out of the inner case, the rotation angle of the inner case needs to be made large or the sliding amount of the inner case needs to be made large. However, for example, if the rotation angle of the inner case is made large, there is a risk that the inner case is greatly inclined rearward at the open position, causing the articles in the storage space to jump out into the vehicle's cabin. Moreover, if the sliding amount of the inner case is made large, the inner case greatly projects into the vehicle's cabin at the open position, and thus, the passenger may feel uncomfortable.
It is considered that, if the inner case is pulled out obliquely downward, the above-described problem that the articles in the storage space jump out during the opening operation of the inner case, and the problem that the storage space of the inner case is not sufficiently exposed in the vehicle's cabin are less likely to occur. For example, if a known slide rail mechanism and a known link mechanism are used, the sliding direction of the inner case can be guided obliquely downward. However, in a case where the inner case is guided obliquely downward only by means of the slide rail mechanism and the link mechanism, the center of gravity of the inner case greatly changes. In particular, there is a problem that, when the center of gravity greatly changes in the up-down direction, the operation of opening/closing the inner case requires a comparatively large force.